Best place to acquire reproduction women's WWII uniforms?

[BigBrother]

Well, the body is basically the title . I've looked and looked and looked but haven't been able to find a single supplier of reproduction women's service uniforms, despite seeing them at many reenactments. I'm especially interested in the WAVES officer summer whites and seersucker.

 

I see a handful of items here and there for sale, or some really questionable-looking places in Europe. But I have yet to find the equivalent of WWII Impressions, At the Front, What Price Glory, etc. for ladies!

 

I contacted the owner of Blitzkrieg Baby, as she really knows her stuff but her links are quite out of date, and she was unfortunately too busy to answer.

 

Any advice? Experience? Thanks so much all!!

[cwnorma]

I am not recommending this website per-se (I only dealt with them one time) but I have purchased from them before and gotten reasonable results:

 

https://www.replicaters.com

 

They are out of India, and will pretty much replicate any historic uniform for you.  The owner will work with you and remember; quality control is in your hands...

 

Best wishes.

 

Chris

 

 

[trinitykitty24]

Women’s uniforms unless you want to do WAC or ANC you have to find originals. There may be someone who makes reproduction ones but I don’t know of any that do WAVE. 

[David Minton]

I’ve been acquiring WAVES uniforms for my wife four around five years so I know a little bit at this point. I started looking for reproductions, but was able to find originals for less, at least with Service Dress Blues.

While expensive, when just starting out buying a group is probably the least expensive way to get started. There are deals to be found on pieces, but unless you spend months or years waiting for deals, some pieces are hundreds of US dollars each.

As rude as this sounds, advice will really be based on what you want to do with the uniforms. Since you are considering reproductions, I assume it is for living history or a display rather than for historic collecting.

When it comes to uniforms, the size and/or historical significance have a great influence on price. If you are looking for display, get a very small mannequin and you should not have a problem finding originals. Lots of tiny uniforms out there.

If you are looking to have the uniforms worn, on the off chance you don’t already learn about vintage sizing. My first WAVES uniform was a vintage 10, so I learned the hard way. Luckily, it was a Chief’s SDB with WAVES size bullion rating badge and Wolf Brown ribbon rack, so I don’t regret the purchase.



As a rule of thumb subtract 10 from a vintage 1940s size to get close to a modern equivalent. I have found not as much competition for vintage 8-12. Larger than that and prices go up. My wife wears a vintage 16, which is the largest common size I have found. From my research, I believe vintage 20 is that largest the Navy produced. Anything larger would have needed to have been custom tailored, and I have never encountered one.

Since you are considering reproduction, the enlisted SDB really didn’t change much from 1942-1975. You can get post WWII SDB and change insignia and probably wind up with as good if not better than a modern reproduction. I bought two 1950s-1960s SDB jackets in vintage 16 for $25-$30 in the last couple of months, and considering converting one to an officer jacket to provide an alternative to the original for events were high authenticity is not critical, or there is a possibility of damage.

WWII dress white uniforms that aren’t stained are tough to find. The design didn’t change until 1975, but the material did. If you are ok with the post WWII material, you can probably modify one to a WWII configuration. It just depends on how authentic you are looking to get. Many of the men’s reproductions are not really authentic, so many seem to be ok with “good enough.”

Seersucker is harder. The dress changed design soon after WWII, and the later design is not passable for WWII (side zip is WWII while the button front version is post WWII). These are tough to find in good condition, since they were a working uniform, and were worked in. Many have repairs, and some even falling apart. Vintage Size 16 have been selling for $150-$200 recently. A size 18-20 sold recently for maybe $250.

Also to consider are accessories. SDB garrison caps are easy to find, and not always expensive, with larger sizes costing more. They were introduced to 1945, so earlier impressions would require a different cap. The enlisted combination caps can be around $100, particularly over 22 1/2. Officer bucket caps are expensive. They are very similar in shape to post WWII version, but the later are black rather than navy blue. Many of the caps I see offered for sale (for $250+) look to me to be post WWII. Took me four years to find a 23 1/2 WWII officer’s cap for under $150 (and it happened to be a SPAR Chief’s cap at that (only needed to swap the cap devices).

The handbags are available, but seem to be selling for $150-$250. Often the leather is dried out and brittle, so care must be taken before using. I have not come across reproductions. Early post WWII are identical, but far more rare. They should sell for more, but sometimes they sell for less since they aren’t WWII era. The 1960s and later handbags won’t pass for WWII.

Original neckties are often around $50-$75, but would take little effort to reproduce.

Original shoes rarely seem to come to market, and are probably not great to wear. The goto seems to be reproductions from All Heels on Duty. My wife has a pair, and they seem decently made for around $150.

For SDB and Dress White, very little of the shirt shows, so you can probably get away with a modern blouse. Without a jacket, you would probably want an original. The white shirt maintained the same pattern through maybe the 1960s.

Original patches and buttons are available. Gold officer buttons were the same as men’s so they are cheap. WAVES buttons were navy blue, but if you can’t find them I think you need to pay attention, and have the right light to tell them from the black buttons men wore. The black buttons are easier to find.

There is a company that sells reproduction cuff braid on eBay I have been told is good. For early war a line star would not be worn. Beginning September or October 1944 WAVES officers were authorized line stars, so one uniform would not work for an impression for any part of WWII (though staff officers wore corps devices from the beginning).

And, as expected, since only around 15% of WAVES were officers, their uniforms are less prevalent, and more expensive. But, since the Navy accepted officer candidates as old as 49 during WWII, larger officer uniforms can be found.

I hope this helps. Also, please don’t take this as “mainsplaining.” I have acquired maybe 25 WWII and post War women’s USN uniforms, so have some understanding of sizing, pricing, and availability.

Some of the collection from our trip to USS North Carolina a few months ago:



From that weekend (NNC rather than WAVES though).



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cutiger83]

21 hours ago, David Minton said:

I hope this helps. Also, please don’t take this as “mainsplaining.” I have acquired maybe 25 WWII and post War women’s USN uniforms, so have some understanding of sizing, pricing, and availability.

 

 

 

I think this is some great advice! 

 

...Kat

[BigBrother]

Absolutely fascinating stuff. Thanks!!

 

Didn’t think you were mansplaining at all... but then again I’m a man so take that for what it’s worth . I’m looking for this for my girlfriend. We’re both very avid Swing dancers (especially of the 1938-1945 variety) and budding WWII re-enactors (if you explore my post history you’ll see scores of questions about A2s, summer khakis, t-shirts, and the like.)

 

From the sound of things I’m thinking we may want to have a reproduction made. It’s intended for dancing, photographs, and just overall enjoyment, so between the wear on an authentic, its potential yellowing, its fragility, etc. it may just not be worth it. I will say though I’ve seen some pretty good examples on Instagram, which is why I think in part I assumed repros were a thing. If they are authentic that’s impressive.

 

Again, I do wish there were some dynamite shop that could do these right.

 

For what it’s worth, my GF wears a modern size 0 usually, very slender and built like the women here in John Falter’s famous (to us :)) recruiting poster:

 

 

If it’s alright with you, I may want to ask you questions in the future about all the detailing that goes along with this, as we’ve really just begun!

[David Minton]

For a dance, Seersucker wouldn't be appropriate. That was a working uniform, so you would either want white for summer or blue for winter.

 

Honestly, for a size zero, if you are willing to be patient you can probably find an original officer's uniform for less than a reproiduction. When I was first starting, I looked at the one site in the UK that did reproductions, and if I recall it would have been maybe $250–$350. I bought an original officer's SDB for around half that.

 

To start with for dances, I would suggest finding a 1950s-60s enlisted white uniform. I have bought them for maybe $30–$40 dollars in the last year. You want to look for one that has a collar that would accommodate the circular WAVES patch. I would avoid the 100% polyester ones, but not sure how much that matters for this use. Yes the material An officer's uniform from that period will have gold braid, and there is a chance it will have disclosed the cuffs, but your milage may vary.

 

Either way, you would need navy blue braid. There is a vendor on eBay that sells it. The higher the rank the more strands of braid, and the more sewing you will need to do (or pay to have done). Initially, WAVES were assigned rank by age, and women under I believe 33 were commissioned as ensigns, so if your GF is 20s to early 30s I would go with an ensign, as it will be less expensive, but that is up to you. If you are ok with early–mid War (before October 1944) you don't need a line star, which will also save you money.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/b0529-WW-2-US-Navy-WAVE-officers-sleeve-braid-pair-1-2-wide-R4D/351574670889?hash=item51db7bbe29:g:jIwAAOSw7H1ZlbPM

For a cap, you can probably also get away with a post WWII combination cover. The brim will be black instead of dark blue, but the difference may not be obvious with a white uniform vs blue. You would need one without a gold chin strap, as I believe that wasn't authorized until after 1975. White garrison caps are very hard to find, and depending on size, WWII combination covers are expensive. I have gotten lucky on the two I own, but they seem to sell for $200+. You may be able to get a post WWII cap for maybe $25–$50. Be careful about paying real money for a WWII combination cover until you have experience with originals. I have seen a few caps I believe are post WWII offered for sale at $250+. If the cap has  WAVES or SPAR label you should be safe, anything else, you need to know what you are looking at.

[Waveswisher]

I have actually been looking for some uniforms myself for reenactments/living history as i will be starting in august with a bigger group as the WAVES rep. would you mind sending me some detailed pictures of some of the uniforms youve been able to find? I could possibly make my own based off pictures. Also thank you for the info you included I wasnt aware of the sizing differences ect.
I will share my pictures of the things ive found. :D

[BigBrother]

On 6/7/2021 at 10:22 AM, Waveswisher said:

I have actually been looking for some uniforms myself for reenactments/living history as i will be starting in august with a bigger group as the WAVES rep. would you mind sending me some detailed pictures of some of the uniforms youve been able to find? I could possibly make my own based off pictures. Also thank you for the info you included I wasnt aware of the sizing differences ect.
I will share my pictures of the things ive found. :D

This is really, really interesting. Please keep me (or us?) updated if you make any progress on this!